Hold the presses! Apparently a new proposal is under review in the U.S. by the House of Representatives that may just be the people's ticket to purchasing unlocked iPhones from Apple and AT&T. The proposal is supposedly adopting the case observed when European service carrier T-Mobile was forced to sell iPhones without a T-Mobile-tied contract, though at more than twice the price of the MSRP. Read on to know more.

Most if us are already familiar with the standard mobile phone deal where you sign a two-year subscription with a service provider and you get a nice handset with either a large discount or totally free of cost.

There were some rumors being passed around, however, that Apple's hyped-up iPhone just might carry some different options.

Instead of the usual post-paid service where you rack up bills and get charged at the end of the month, the Pay As You Go and Pick Your Plan options could soon be made available.

The pre-paid Pay As You Go option allows subscribers to purchase credits and use them up as they go without having to worry about exceeding budgets and hidden charges.

The Pick Your Plan option on the other hand, lets users choose their own monthly allowable credit set, where they pay a fixed bill at the end of each 30-day cycle. The only drawback is that the phone of their choice may not come free. As a matter of fact, users will have to pay for the handset's full price.

Click on Full Article to read more on this rumor, plus the source of it all.

Abandon Mobile today announced the release of their new mobile phone title U.S. Marine Corps. Scout/Sniper. This strategic military sniper game is available on J2ME carriers, Cingular, Boost, and a new J2ME service from Cricket/Leap.

In US Marine Corps. Scout/Sniper, players take the role of a trainee whose helicopter gets shot down. You will have to hold the enemy off with your rifle using long-ranged attack capabilities until help finally arrives. There are eight action packed levels to shoot your way through, and the objective is to make it to the radio and call for extraction.

"By partnering with the U.S. Marine Scout/Sniper Association, [the game] also supports our troops and soldiers, and it's an honor to publish a game that gives something back to those who defend our country," said Jamie Ottilie, President and COO of Abandon Mobile.

Under the terms of a deal between Abandon and The U.S. Marine Scout/Sniper Association, 15% of proceeds from the game will go directly to the association for support of troops on the battlefield.

The iPhone is possibly the most wanted cellphone since the mighty Blackberry, and sporting loads of features, including a mini OSX Operating System and devilish good looks, who wouldn't want one? We know that the iPhone doesn't have everything, but the sheer appeal of the phone, just like the iPod, makes everyone want one.

There has been rumor of an early release for the iPhone, but until now no solid dates have been revealed. Cingular is confirming that the release date will be June 11, and although this isn't coming from Steve Jobs' mouth, June 11 coincides with the first day of Apple's World Developers Conference.

We're still awaiting a response from Apple, but as soon as one comes in we'll have it ready. Any confirmation on this date would be helpful so we can get our pre-orders in!

At first we were like the others who were a bit skeptical about a tornado game. It's...a tornado. But instead of a violently rotating gameplay, Tornado Mania turned out to be an innovative take on a mobile sim and arcade game. It was widely accepted, and even named Game of the Year for 2006 by IGN. It's one of the few games that has received a perfect score of 10 from the IGN reviews.

Now, Digital Chocolate's phenomenal game is going Live. It is now an exclusive on Verizon Wireless, found in both the What's New and VZW Exclusive categories. The exclusivity of TM on Verizon Wireless will eventually expire, and then after that, you may find the game on other carriers, including Cingular and Sprint. Go on, be swept away by Tornado Mania!

The latest installment to the Quest mobile game series, Jewel Quest II, was launched across the globe last January. It was an instant hit because of several features, most notably the fact that it's not just a straight-up action puzzler - it also sports a deep story line, along with challenges of skill, strategy, and cerebral fun.

Anyway, mobile entertainment company I-play has a treat for players of Jewel Quest. Beginning today, participants can enter a global sweepstakes to win a trip for two to Mexico.

What will they do in Mexico, you ask? Well, they will compete in a real-life Jewel Quest challenge through the Mayan ruins and find a US$ 25,000 diamond.

"I-play's Jewel Quest promotion is one of the largest sweepstakes giveaways on mobile to date. In honor of the release of Jewel Quest II and the success of the Quest series, one of the top selling mobile game franchises in history, I-play is giving gamers a true taste of adventure," remarked I-play CEO David Gosen.

The said competition is open to all Cingular Wireless, lusacell, Amp'd, and Sprint subscribers.

The buzz over Apple's new product - the iPhone - and the recent pullback in the equity markets make investors feel encouraged about buying Apple stocks. But analysts warn: buying the stock now solely on the faith of this new product could come back to haunt investors' portfolio later in the year.

Apple plans to sell as much as 10 million units by the year 2008, a goal considered conservative. Analysts insist, however, that a closer look at the handset market may prove that such a goal may be too lofty even for a consumer electronics powerhouse like Apple.

The iPhone is considered a smart phone due to its high price and multifunction capabilities. Although smart phone sales increased by 42 percent since 2004, smart phone sales represent only 10 percent of the total number of handsets sold last year.

The way that the iPhone is only available through AT&T's Cingular Wireless service is also limiting for iPhone sales. Other factors that may not make the iPhone sell as well as planned are its high price, and the credibility of the competing smart phone makers such as Nokia, Palm and Motorola.

Analysts advice to avoid Apple’s stock until it is certain that the iPhone will sustain a high level of growth.

Last week, Namco Networks announced the launch of Ms. Pac-Man for the Apple iPod. Today, we're bringing you a Gaming Bits interview with Scott Rubin, VP of Namco Networks, that gives us all a little peek at what the company has in store for iPod and mobile gamers. Read on for a few snippets.

On iPhone games. According to Rubin, Namco is "without a question one of the handful of game publishers that Apple has chosen to work with." He also noted that the company is also a top partner of Cingular, who will be distributing the iPhone.

"We're one of the few publishers that directly publishes games on almost every wireless platform," said Rubin. "Not just Java phones, but iPods, Sidekicks, Palm, Windows Mobile. If the opportunity is there, we will put our games on the iPhone. It's our mission."

Another big name in the videogames industry that is currently planning to release games for the Apple iPhone is Electronic Arts.

On original IP. "We're Namco," said Rubin. "We've been doing video games for years and we have a library that we're fortunate enough to be able to chose from like Dig Dug and Galaga." That doesn't mean that arcade ports are the only things that Namco will be bringing to the mobile gaming market, though. Rubin points towards two Namco titles, Scene It? Movies for Mobile and Pool Pro Online II, as examples of their original IP offerings.

Rubin also revealed that Namco will be doing "some original games tied to licenses like Snoopy and The Red Baron and a Dilbert title as well."

For the full interview, click on the "read" link below.

Digit Online reports on an uncommissioned survey by online market firm Compete, Inc. which hints that (a) the iPhone as it is is simply too expensive (well, (sarcasm deleted)), but (b) if the price drops, they would gladly switch to Cingular and AT&T (which owns Cingular) to get one. It's not that "maybe it's a fake survey" survey - different marketing firm, but as it's uncommissioned, it's got nothing to do with Cingular/AT&T or Apple, either.

Still, everyone seems to be testing the waters these days for the iPhone.

While 379 people across the US surveyed doesn't exactly constitute a statistically representative pool, most of these 379 people were aware of what the iPhone was, and have shopped for an iPod before. Only 1% of this pool was willing to lay down US$ 500 for the low-end iPhone. 42% said they'd likely buy the phone if the price dropped to US$ 200 to US$ 299.

In a potential signal to competitors, 60% said they'd be willing to switch to Cingular/AT&T if they purchased an iPhone. Okay, so 60% isn't exactly a landslide in terms of the cellular market, but other cellular providers might be thinking of talking things over with Apple for a small slice of the pie, too, despite (or probably after) the Cingular exclusivity. Especially if the product goes 3G.

Even before the sound check could begin, Guitar Hero Mobile had to do a rain check. Over at the GDC, they initially posted a schedule of sessions and discussions, in which the mobile version was to be unveiled by Sonivox. However, the scheduled presentation was pulled out.

It was found later on that it wasn't only the presentation of the game pulled out, but actually, the game itself has been axed. Sources from Sonivox revealed that the Activision deal had a whole lot to do with the collapse of the supposed mobile project for the GH franchise.

Awww...dang. So close, but still no cigar. Oh well, to try and make up for it, Sonivox revealed that they will have a music game on Cingular next month, entitled Guitar Star. Quick to point out that this ain't a clone of the preempted GH mobile, fans will just have to go and see for themselves when it comes out in the market.